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GERMAN SILVER

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 800 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GERMAN See also:SILVER or See also:NICKEL SILVER, an alloy of See also:copper, nickel and See also:zinc, prepared either by melting the copper and nickel together in a crucible, and adding piece by piece the previously, heated zinc, or by See also:heating the finely divided metals under a layer ' of See also:charcoal. To destroy its crystalline structure and so render it See also:fit for working, it is heated to dull redness, and then allowed to cool. German silver is harder than silver; it resembles that See also:metal in See also:colour, but is of a greyer tinge. Exposed to the See also:air it tarnishes slightly yellow, and with See also:vinegar affords a crust of See also:verdigris. At a See also:bright red See also:heat it melts, losing its zinc by oxida- tion unless protected from the See also:atmosphere. At a heat above dull redness it becomes exceedingly brittle. German silver in various modifications of See also:composition is much used in the arts. See also:Alloys, of which about 5o% is copper and the See also:residue zinc and nickel in about equal proportions take a See also:fine See also:polish, and are used as See also:imitation silver for knives and forks. With a somewhat higher proportion of copper an alloy is formed suitable for See also:rolling and for See also:wire. In See also:Chinese See also:white silver or packfong (paktong) the amount of copper is smaller, about 40%, with about 32 % of nickel, 25 of zinc, and 2 or 3 of See also:iron. German silver for casting contains 2 or 3 % of See also:lead, which like iron increases the whiteness of the alloy. German silver, having a high specific resistance and a See also:low temperature coefficient, has been used for See also:electrical resistance coils, and these qualities are possessed in a still greater degree in manganin, which contains See also:manganese in See also:place of zinc, its composition being 84% of copper, 12 of manganese and 4 of nickel.

The addition of a trace of See also:

tungsten to German silver, as in platinoid, also largely increases the resistance.

End of Article: GERMAN SILVER

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